our history

Newry Credit Union was established in 1963. The Newry of the time was a very different place to the city we all know today.

The picture above is of our Catherine Street premises which we were in from 1970-1988.

Many local people were unable to obtain finance from banks and so had no alternative but to use the money lenders and pawn shops who were operating in the town at the time. This resulted in them becoming trapped into a cycle of debt that they couldn’t get out of.

Newry Credit Union was formed in response to this. A number of men living and working in the town at the time had had heard of the Credit Union movement across Ireland and thought that establishing a Credit Union in Newry would help people to gain financial independence and out of the grasp of the moneylenders.

And so, Newry Credit Union first opened its doors in June 1963 in two leased rooms in Merchants Quay and on the first night there was £21 in savings.

Of course, we’ve had a number of homes since moving to our state of the art premises in 2000, but although the premises have changed our aim to provide the people of Newry with financial services at fair rate of interest has remained constant.

Click here www.creditunion.ie to find out more about the Irish League of Credit Unions, the body we are affiliated to.